still there; and, although the trees of Abraham's grove had passed away, like the Angels "the

who once rested under their shadow,

place thereof" was not unknown. Oaks of Mamre, and palm trees of Lahairoi, had replaced them. Sheshbazzar often drank at that

well, and mused in that spot, in the very

spirit of its Patriarchal owner, and of its Angelic visitors. Still, it was not Zion! It was the sepulchre of his fathers and of his children: but it was not the sanctuary of his God. His FIG TREE was there; but his TREE OF LIFE was upon mount Zion.

The prospect of his translation did not, however, so absorb his spirit, as to divert his sympathies from those who had to stay at home. Having, like Elijah, thrown his mantle over Esrom and Rachel, he continued to commune with them, until the moment of his departure; and to pray that a double portion

of his spirit might rest upon them. And never did they stand in more need of counsel or prayer. They had been betrothed in the month Nisan: but when the Tisri trumpets were blown, Esrom showed no inclination to

go up to Jerusalem. He was not " glad" when Sheshbazzar said unto him, "Let us go up to the house of the Lord." He had tried to persuade himself, that it was not his duty this year! Rachel was drooping in both health and spirits: and surely it could not be duty to leave her alone! She herself tried to think that, for once, Esrom might be excused: for she felt, at times, as low as if the Angel of Death was not far off. uneasy on her account.

Even Sheshbazzar was

He feared something

worse than death: for Rachel's mind was one, which might be thrown off its balance by an excess of either grief or joy. Its very strength was more perilous than weakness; because she

put it all forth upon whatever interested her feelings deeply. She threw her whole soul, equally, into human and Divine things, by turns. On the day of her betrothment, she thought of nothing else and on the day after, which was the Sabbath, she was so absorbed by Sheshbazzar's exposition of the Law and the Prophets, in the Synagogue, that she forgot it entirely.

Even next morning, she met Esrom without alluding to their plighted vows. She was still in ecstacy with a Sabbath which, she said, had been to her a fragment of the first Sabbath of Time, and a foretaste of the first Sabbath of Eternity. Esrom felt piqued, and asked, sarcastically, "Did Adam pray like the Elders, or will Angels sing like the choirs of Beersheba?" This association of ideas was ludicrous. It threw her off her guard: and, for the first time, Rachel criticized the tones and

terms of public worship. Until that moment, she had thought of nothing, but their spirit and design but, from that moment, she began to weigh them, not only in the balance of the sanctuary, but also in the scales of taste. They were "found wanting" in both; and she wondered that she had overlooked their defects so long. It was an unhappy discovery! She resolved to improve the form of her own devotions: for, hitherto, she had adopted whatever petition came warm from the lips of the Elders; and had thought only of what she wanted. Now, she began to think more about her words than her wants; and tried oftener to adore like a seraph, than to pray like a penitent. Sublimity became her study. Humility was left to accident. She could trust her heart, (she said to herself,) that it would never relapse into hardness or coldness. It had been melted and

warmed by the holy fire of Heaven; and she

took for granted, that the glow would never decay. Surely the principle of grace might be as safely trusted to its own vitality, upon the altar of the soul, as the sacred fire upon the altar of the temple! She, at least, was sure that, after what she had seen and felt herself to be as a sinner, nothing could inflate or deaden her spirit as a penitent.

She thus trusted her own heart; and it betrayed her! It soon took more interest in her nuptial preparations, than in her closet, or in her copy of the Law. She was no longer humble before God. She never forgot "the Grapes of Gomorrah;" but she no longer wept when she remembered them. Her old ambition to dazzle or puzzle others in company, returned on her. She was upon the watch for opportunities to shine in conversation, whenever Sheshbazzar was not present. She almost claimed credit for her piety from